In a bi-directional printing operation, a print head reciprocated in a main scanning direction prints (i.e., ejects ink) while moving in both forward and reverse directions. In the following description, print performed by the print head while moving in the forward direction will be referred to as “forward print”, and print performed while moving in the reverse direction will be referred to as “reverse print”. In other words, the print head performs the forward print and the reverse print while reciprocatingly moving in the main scanning direction.
In such bi-directional printing operations, printing positions on a recording medium at which ink is ejected in the forward print and the reverse print may be offset from each other with respect to the main scanning direction. For example, when forming a vertical ruled line along a sub-scanning direction, a phenomenon called “ruled line offset” may occur in which the position of the ruled line formed in the forward print is offset in the main scanning direction from the position of the ruled line formed in the reverse print.
A method for aligning the printing positions in this type of situation has been proposed. This method finds a parameter indicating the printing positions in the forward and reverse directions that are most closely aligned and sets a printing start timing for printing in the reverse direction based on the parameter in order to reduce the occurrence of ruled line offset.
At the same time, there is market demand for inexpensive printers. Most manufacturers are able to offer low-cost printers by keeping down the costs of the mechanical structure therein. However, when using an inexpensive mechanical structure in a printer, the print head may become offset in the sub-scanning direction during a bi-directional printing operation, depending on whether the print head is being conveyed in the forward direction or the reverse direction, resulting in a decline in image quality.